Haul Monitor - Trailer Queen

There are some that would argue that this is the best use of a longbed truck. And for those more astute readers, no, that's not the old longbed from my C10 repurposed into a trailer; though it would have come in very handy no doubt. No, that went to a member of the 67-72chevytrucks.com forum. He was looking to swap his metal bed floor for a wood floor and I was looking to get rid of one. Turns out we both won that round!

But that's not what I wanted to talk about.

I snapped this shot one day while the wife and I were driving around doing the usual errand running that I try to convince her to do on her own. You know the drill; a quick trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond followed by a dip into Cost Plus, maybe a side trip to Target, and pretty soon I'm beelining it across the parking lot to look at some trailer a fella's farmed out of an old C10. Hey, my attention span is limited.

But when I came across this shot recently, it reminded me of a dichotomy of sorts that we are probably all faced with at one point in time during a truck build; is a truck that is too nice to use as a truck, useless?

Case in point, my '68 has a beautiful Sapele bed wood thanks to Bed Wood & Parts. I wouldn't dare haul a load of gravel or lumber in it like I used to. Inside, the old rubber mat has been replaced with carpet and a vinyl seat cover from Brothers Trucks now complements the upgraded interior. Probably won't let the dog jump in straight from the beach anymore either. I guess that old pickup has more in common with a two seat sports car now than a work truck. Although I suppose it doesn't have to be that way. I could probably source a nice rubber mat to put on the bed floor for those times when I need to haul something and a beach towel over the seat would keep the dog from turning the vinyl cover into a louvered vinyl cover like those old '80's rocker tees. So I guess having a nice truck isn't the end of its useful life after all.

Now if only I could convince those naysayers who complain that a lowered truck is somehow useless, we'd be on to something! Eh, on the other hand, if you don't get it, you don't get it.